Electric Deads 7 Inch Reissues!

Danish punks who released three 7 inches between 82' and 84.' Their song "Fish in a Pool" appeared on Maximum Rock & Roll's classic comp 'Welcome to 1984' alongside prolific bands such as Crucifucks and Raw Power. Four of their tracks also appeared on the 'Bloodstains Across Denmark' comp released in 97.' Recently, Noise and Distortion Records reissued all three 7inches, so these once hard to find obscure punk gems are now available for your turntables. Classic female/male vocal harmonies blasting through songs with subject matter ranging from promiscuity to paranoia. Fast and primitive on tracks like "Anti-sex" and "Mind Bomb" or moody and disoriented on the likes of "Zig Zag", "30 Years" and "Compact Chaos." Original Scandinavian sound you here from bands in recent years such as The Vicious, Regulations and Gorilla Angreb.

The Blackettes: Black Randy's Glamazons

Black Randy and the Metro Squad were known more for Randy himself, with crazy antics and crazier habits, than for his genius smut punk lyrics with topics such as Idi Amin and gay prostitution. A real treasure for me has been looking up the photos of the Metro Squad with their super stylish and fierce back-up vocal girl gang of stars, The Blackettes. The women of L.A. punk dressed to the nines for Randy, clad in vibrant colored paisley mini-dresses with enormous black bouffants. Sometime Blackettes included Alice Bag of the Bags, Exene Cervenka of X and Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go's.

Cat Party Self - Titled LP

Having been collecting records since about the age of 14 or so, the idea of trading friends for lps that I'd rather have was something that never seemed to cross my mind. Maybe it was the fact that a lot of my friends throughout my teen years weren't as avid about buying records as I was. It wasn't until recently that I made my first record trade for a JFA 7 inch to a close friend who had been wanting the record for quite sometime and because it had sentimental value to him growing up in Arizona. The trade was a-ok by me, in return I received the Clockcleaner 'Babylon Rules' LP and a 7 inch on Hozac Records of a band I was unfamiliar with called Wizard Sleeve from Alabama, that I ended up enjoying quite a bit for it's cold-wave/psych elements.

This very same friend traded another pal for a record I can't seem to remember and this pal ended up with the self-titled LP from a band out of Cali called CAT PARTY. Running into a string of bittersweet misfortunes, I've been calling this pal's couch home for the last few weeks and what with simultaneously being unemployed, I've set up a little station in front of his turntable. Listening, taping, recording and reviewing to pass my misguided time.

I'd heard a song from this LP called "Entitled" and fell in love with it. Somehow it's taken a few weeks for me to actually sit down with the record and enjoy it in it's entirety. The results found me blown away. It has all of my favorite ingredients. Dark melodic pop, desperate vocals, driving bass lines, surf-esque guitars and an atmospheric production quality. Songs about disappointment, turmoil, alienation and being unforgiving. It's obviously influenced by the likes of The Wipers and Husker Du while also incorporating some British post-punk elements within it. The mid-tempo range at which the songs are played spills out with such frustration it instantly grabs you by the gut. You can definitely hear a Jeffrey Lee Pierce influence through the vocals, lyrical content and structure as well.

Highlights include the build up opening track "Tar & Feathers", the detached and deprived "Further Into The Ordinary" which is one of the album's most lyrically memorable songs, the hardest hitting track on the record, " Product of the Eighties" and the closer to side A, "Entitled" which remains my personal favorite.


Check out the disheartened sounds of Cat Party here :
http://www.myspace.com/birdsofpreymusic

The Sound Barrier Playlist 5/2/10

The Sound Barrier happens every Sunday night at Atomic Cowboy here in the heart of the midwest, St. Louis, MO. One night a week at a hip bar on a hip stretch of town, the ne'er-do-wells cruise to this spot to guzzle 50 cent Stags and groove to jams from genres ranging from hardcore punk to greasy soul to power pop bliss...and not missing one beat inbetween. My pal Ben Smith and I stay stationed behind the decks but creep out from our corner spot every once in awhile to shake our asses with the finest of fine folks in town.

Now that summer time weather has hit, we've set up camp on the back patio of the joint. If you haven't had the opportunity to join us yet, get ready to move your feet ladies and germs!

Here's our playlist from last eve's dance party:

THE SOUND BARRIER 5/2/10
Minutemen - "Joe McCarthy's Ghost"
Hygiene - "Town Centre"
Swell Maps - "International Rescue"
The Spits - "Alienize"
Electric Deads - "Zig Zag"
Observers - "Can't Be Sad"
Young Governor - "English Tim"
Radio Birdman - "Hand of Law"
Skull Kontrol - "New Rock Etiquette"
Buzzcocks - "Breakdown"
Urinals - "Black Hole"
Hubble Bubble - "Faking"
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - "Demons Demand"
Tenants - "Submind"
No Hope For the Kids - "Meaningless Problems"
Warsaw - "Living in the Ice Age"
Let's Wrestle - "Tanks"
Marvelous Darlings - "I Don't Wanna Go to the Party"
Rat Traps - "Tennessee Rock & Roll"
Young Governor - "Call Me When the Cat Dies"
Thurneman - "tegelsten for tegelsten"
Wipers - "Doom Town"
Reatards - "Drink Today"
Daylight Robbery - "Vamp"
Futureheads - "Hounds of Love"
Wire - "Mannequin"
Brimstone Howl - "In the Valley"
Fves - "Sex Crimes"
Statues - "Distance, Duration"
A-Frames - "Surveillance"
Idle Hands - "New Ways"
Libyans - "Welcome to the Neighborhood"
The Boys - "The First Time"


Sonics - "Hitch Hike"
Creation - "Makin' Time"
Otis Redding - "Shout Bama Lama"
Gino Washington - "Out of This World"
Polka Dot Slim - "A Thing You Gotta Face"
Jimmy Robins - "I Just Can't Please You"
Coasters - "Searchin'"
Dirty Wurds - "Why"
Bunker Hill - "Hide & Go Seek Part 1"
The Versatones - "Bila"
Oblivians - "I Don't Wanna Live Alone"
Impressions - "It's Alright"
Chuck Berry - "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
Billy Ward & the Dominoes - "Jennie Lee"
International Kansas City Playboys - "Everybody's Goin' Wild"
Stevie Wonder - "Sir Duke"
Sam & Dave - "Hold On"
The Elegants - "Ooh Poo Pah Doo"
Otis Redding - "I'm A Changed Man"
Bobby Long & the Satellites - "Mojo Workout"
The Kinks - "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy"
Raindrops - "What A Guy"
Undertones - "Here Comes the Summer"
The Troggs - "With A Girl Like You"
Exploding Hearts - "I'm A Pretender"


WE'LL BE SEEING YOU REAL SOON!
XOXO - A

SCHOOL JERKS MAY 18TH

SCHOOL JERKS (Toronto, Canada) - Snotty as fuck early 80's riff raff. No frills all out assault on your ears. If you missed them in December now is your chance. Don't fuck it up! I hear they do a Zeros cover... www.myspace.com/schooljerks

with:

Doom Town - Mood Music (DEMO RELEASE SHOW)

Sweet Tooth - Illinois' Finest

$5 for the Canadians
9 PM
Tuesday, May 18th
CRANKY YELLOW (Located at 2847 Cherokee St)